March 25, 2011

South Korea alleviates FMD alert

South Korea relieved a nationwide alert Thursday (Mar 24) against its worst FMD outbreak that has cost some US$2.6 billion over the past four months.

Since the first case was confirmed on November 29, South Korea has slaughtered about 3.48 million cattle, pigs and other animals.

"Our campaign has now entered a phase of termination," agriculture minister Yoo Jeong-Bok said.

But he said the government would continue to restrict livestock movement, although the outbreak showed clear signs of abating after all 13 million remaining livestock were inoculated.

So far the outbreak has cost about KRW3 trillion (US$2.68 million), with more than one million government officials, soldiers and others mobilised nationwide.

Critics say the tactics used to fight the outbreak were wrong, with authorities at first shunning a vaccination programme because it wanted to protect future meat exports.

Use of vaccinations delays international certification of a country as free of FMD. 

Environmental groups have accused the government of turning the country into a mass graveyard of farm animals to protect less than US$2 million worth of meat exports a year.

They said the hasty burial of farm animals had also raised concerns about the contamination of groundwater.